1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to an optical disc loading apparatus of an optical disc player, and more particularly, to an optical disc loading apparatus for directly inserting an optical disc without a tray for disc loading.
2. Description of the Related Art
An optical disc player projects a light beam onto an optical disc such as a compact disc to record information and to reproduce information recorded in the optical disc, and generally includes a disc loading apparatus for loading the optical disc to a position for recording and reproducing information in and from the optical disc. In particular, in a portable disc player or a vehicle disc player, the optical disc is directly inserted and loaded without a tray for the disc loading because of lack of space. Moreover, there are disc loading apparatuses for selectively loading optical discs with different sizes, such as 80 mm optical discs and 120 mm optical discs.
An example of such an optical disc loading apparatus is disclosed in Korean Registered Patent No. 433415. The disc loading apparatus described in the patent includes a power transmission unit for transmitting a driving force of a loading motor to a transfer roller to transfer the optical disc, a slider selectively connected to the power transmission unit to reciprocate, a first interlock mechanism including a first rotation plate, a second rotation plate, and a first pushing lever, guiding a first relatively large-sized disc to a loading finish position, and moving the slider to be connected to the power transmission unit, a second interlock mechanism including a second pushing lever and connecting the slider to the power transmission when a second relatively small-sized disc is loaded, a sub-chassis for spacing the first interlock mechanism from the first disc or the second disc positioned at the loading finish position, and a locking lever for locking and releasing the first interlock mechanism.
However, according to the conventional optical disc loading apparatus, there is a separate set of mechanisms for loading a larger disc and for loading a smaller disc. Every component has a simple function so that the number of the components must be increased, and the loading mechanism becomes complicated. For example, the first pushing lever and the second pushing lever are independently provided to perform similar functions and to be respectively applied to the different sized optical discs. The first pushing lever and the second pushing lever transmit the movement of the second rotation plate to the slider during the loading, but do not transmit the movement of the slider to the second rotation plate. Thus, there is an additional component, the sub-chassis, for receiving the movement of the slider and for spacing the first interlock mechanism away from the disc positioned at the loading finish position.
As the number of the components for forming the loading mechanism increases, and productivity decreases. More seriously, the disc loading and unloading becomes unreliable. In other words, when many components are installed in a small space, there is an increased probability of malfunctions due to interference between the many components. Even in the conventional loading apparatus, since the second pushing lever has a different arc of movement when loading and unloading the optical disc, the second pushing lever may interfere with the slider moving in the opposite direction to the second pushing lever during the disc unloading.
Moreover, according to the conventional optical disc loading apparatus, since the locking lever only rotates, a protrusion of the locking lever cannot be smoothly removed from a groove of the second rotation plate when the locking lever is rotated by the sub-chassis to release the second rotation plate.